(Sutton, London) – As part of Boris Johnson’s current mayoral election campaign, he today visited Sutton, South London and met with internet service providers Netwise Hosting, showing his hands-on support to young people in business. The mayor, hoping to be re-elected this May, is an avid supporter of thriving new business in London, and requested a meeting with Netwise Hosting’s young management duo to show his support in this pivotal year in London’s history. Boris requested time out of his busy visiting schedule to take some photographs with Managing Director, Matthew Butt (22, right) and Senior Manager, Matt Seaton (22, left) on Sutton High Street.

Building a business in tough economic times is difficult, and support is essential in making business ventures a success. Johnson hopes that this shining example of fresh, young entrepreneurial talent will help pull more attention towards London in the run up to the 2012 games, and prove to the world that success is abound in the nation’s capital.

Netwise Hosting, founded in 2009, operates out of its own private London data centre, which the small team designed and built in the space of just a few short years. The pair were very excited to receive personal appraisals from the Mayor of London, and appreciate his support.

Matthew Butt and long-time business partner Matt Seaton have since been nominated for a number of important local and industry-specific awards, including Best New Business and Entrepreneur of the Year at the Sutton Business Awards, and Best SME Hosting with the ISPA.

Boris hopes to see a rising interest in business amongst the young people of London in the coming years, as he firmly believes they are fundamental in bringing about real economic change for the cities future.

- What is a data centre?
Simply put, data centres are the beating heart of the internet and everything you do online. Every time you visit a website, send an email or use an online service, you are sending and receiving information to and from data centres all around the globe. London is arguably the world’s premier connectivity hub, with a large number of leading data centres in and around the city.

- About Netwise Hosting
Netwise Hosting provision enterprise-level hosted environments to a wide and varied customer-base, working closely with clients all around the world. From bespoke colocation deployments, affordable dedicated server platforms, right through to robust online backup solutions, Netwise Hosting bring to life a wholly unified approach to hosting.

A young and dynamic team sit at the helm, allowing Netwise Hosting to grow progressively and organically into the flexible company it is today. The bespoke, almost boutique nature of the Netwise Hosting facility, coupled with the unique dynamism of company operations, allows for the supply of truly individualised solutions – meeting the exacting needs of clients regardless of any budgetary or other such common constraints.

Surf4Sure offers ISP-level protection for families surfing the web at home on any device 

Manchester, United Kingdom – 24th April 2012 – Intelliworkspace Ltd has launched a private beta of their “zero install” home Internet security and parental controls solution, Surf4Sure™, which brings enterprise-class Internet security and protection to the home via an intuitive, easy-to-use web interface. No software downloads or ongoing updates will be required.

Surf4Sure can be deployed as a high quality Internet Service Provider (ISP) or by routing any ISP’s web traffic through Intelliworkspace’s security gateway.  The Surf4Sure home internet security product is enhanced with zvelo’s website categorization engine, known for its capabilities of detecting questionable online content and malicious or compromised websites.  This added layer of control helps families easily choose the right level of Internet access for their homes, so that surfing the web becomes safer from any device (e.g. PC, mobile phone, tablet).

“We are delighted to be able to offer a home internet security solution that is truly device independent and available at an ISP level,” stated Daniel Niasoff, Technical Director of Intelliworkspace Ltd. “The innovative features of the Surf4Sure offering raise it above the typical ‘parental control’ solutions already in the market, and include enterprise-level security and controls in a unique way that will be easy to set up.”

About Intelliworkspace Ltd

Intelliworkspace Ltd is focused in the provisioning of cloud-based Internet and application control solutions for the home and IT solutions for small to medium sized businesses.  Surf4Sure is the next-generation “zero download” home internet security solution and is easily accessible through a user-friendly web interface.  To lean more, visit https://surf4sure.com.

About zvelo, Inc.

zvelo is a leading provider of website categorization technologies, URL database (zveloDB®), malicious and compromised website detection and reputation blocklist solutions.  zvelo licenses its zveloDB exclusively through OEM Partnerships with online advertising technology providers, service providers (ISP/MSSP, mobile, etc.), endpoint security and anti-virus vendors, UTM and gateway appliance vendors, content and URL filtering vendors, and other high growth market segments where accuracy, responsiveness, coverage, malicious website detection and fast URL query performance are required.  To learn more, visit https://zvelo.com.

www.WhiteLabelGreetingCards.co.uk launches to help charities create a new, successful revenue stream.

Following the findings of the survey of 120 charity chief executives conducted by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), and the resultant widespread despair amongst the charity community at the Government’s decision to cap tax relief on donations, White Label Greeting Cards are here to help the charity community.

White Label Greeting Cards is revolutionising the print on demand greeting cards market, offering tools for any charity to sell personalised greeting cards, under their own brand name, from their own website.  The White Label Greeting Cards service is free, with no set up or licence fee, and will generate a new fundraising revenue stream for charities.

In the background of huge concerns about charity work being affected due to the proposed capped tax relief on donations, White Label Greeting Cards can help charities, not only, generate new vital revenue streams, but help engage new and younger donors to charity.

“We are confident that people everywhere will enjoy creating their own personalised greeting cards and will be pleased to be supporting charities at the time of their purchase.  White Label Greeting Cards is a new venture, and one that has been 2 years in development, and we are now simply so proud that we can do our part in helping charities raise vital funds.”   MD Sam Heaton said.

Heléna Holt, Chief Executive of Devon Air Ambulance Trust said ‘We are delighted with our online personalised greeting cards site provided and hosted by White Label Greetings Card.  This initiative is working really well as not only is it low in maintenance for the Charity, but it means that our supporters can buy the greetings cards they need for any occasion, whilst at the same time making a difference to Devon Air Ambulance Trust.’

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NOTES TO EDITORS

For more information, or to arrange an interview with Sam Heaton, please contact Lucy Goaman at the Marketing and PR Clinic on 07974431285 or email lucy@marketingandprclinic.com

White Label Greeting Cards will be at the Internet World Show, Earls Court, on 24th-26th April 2012

For more information on  White Label Greeting Cards please visit: www.WhiteLabelGreetingCards.co.uk

To see a  White Label Greeting Card site in operation, please see the The Devon Air Ambulance’s card shop  www.DAAT.org

White Label Greeting Cards is part of eCards Media.  eCards Media are the UK’s largest virtual-greetings card company, with  8 million customers and an advertising client base of major high street brands. Clients include firms such as Gap, Optical Express and Match.com.  The firm provides free eCards supported by an advertising revenue & donation model.

eCards Media also offer a print-on-demand greetings card service (PersonalisedGreetingCards.co.uk)  and are the company responsible for the widely successful Postcards app, which, when launched,  quickly became one of Apple’s top 30 apps.

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www.eCards.co.uk launches new technology to allow eCards to be posted to facebook, creating a major new viral success.

The Power of Social Media

eCards distribution has shifted from solely one-way broadcast via email to facebook, a multi conversation medium.

In the past, eCards were sent exclusively through email channels.  Problems have emerged with email notifications such as aggressive spam filters junking emails & cautious notification email clickers (virus aware).  eCards.co.uk looked to harness social media to deliver their cards and Facebook came to their rescue.

Facebook is a personal space and most people have an account.  It provides the perfect environment to send and receive eCards to celebrate, or commiserate, events together!

eCards can now be posted and played on a facebook wall or timeline.   The average facebook user has 156 friends, so when an eCard is posted on a facebook wall both sender and recipients friends see it on their wall – that’s 312 people!  Each time friends then engage with the content by posting “likes” or “comments” it goes up by 156.

Most people have a close network of friends of 10-20 people and the rest of the 156 people are old friends, work colleagues and acquaintances.  Users send eCards invariably to close friends.  The viral element comes into play when users see one acquaintance sending an eCard to another acquaintance.  Watching other people’s  interaction with the content prompts them to follow suit with their own close friends

eCards.co.uk is confident that facebook posting will be the greatest development in the eCard industry in 2012 and is seeing its own traffic dramatically increase.

“There is obviously great value in this development, as it provides true sharing capabilities and is on trend with developments in social media.  We are proud of our constant technology improvements, and are very confident that people everywhere will love posting eCards on facebook.  It is a really fun and engaging development for us and for facebook.”  MD Sam Heaton said.

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NOTES TO EDITORS

For more information, or to arrange an interview with Sam Heaton, please contact Lucy Goaman at the Marketing and PR Clinic on 07974431285 or email lucy@marketingandprclinic.com

To see the range of fun eCards available and to send your own card, please visit: www.eCards.co.uk

As the UK’s largest virtual-greetings card company, eCards.co.uk has 8 million customers and an advertising client base of major brands, such as Gap, Optical Express and Match.com. The firm provides free eCards supported by an advertising revenue & donation model. Mr Heaton has seen this sector enjoy 40% growth year-on-year.

Facebook – 8 years after launching, the latest corporate statistics confirm there are 845 million monthly active facebook users (December 2011). Approximately 80% of monthly active users are outside the U.S and Canada.483 million daily active users, on average (December 2011). Facebook is available in more than 70 languages. The average facebook user has 156 friends.
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Websites offering special deals on products, services, meals out and beauty treatments have really exploded over the past year, and the once sparse market now includes Groupon, Wowcher and Living Social. However, issues with the way Groupon goes about its business has seen the voucher giant given a slap on the wrist by the Office of Fair Trading this week. After an investigation, the OFT said that it had identified problems with pricing, “unfair terms”, refunds, the way Groupon advertises its offers and “the diligence of its interactions with merchants”. Groupon now has a three month deadline to implement the required changes to its practices, which could spell good news for those customers who feel they have been taken for a ride by the site in the past.

Commonly reported issues with Groupon include firms being unable to cope with demand on their services following a Groupon offer, exaggerated claims and limitations on deals which are not made clear to the consumer, and over the next 12 weeks the site will be putting new procedures and practices in place to tackle these problems. Anyone who applies for a refund after buying a Groupon offer will also be given a much swifter service and given their full cancellation rights.

Commenting on the case, Cavendish Elithorn from the OFT said: “The market is growing rapidly, but it is important that consumers benefit from consumer protection law as well as from the discounted offers.”
Groupon said it is taking the concerns of the OFT “very seriously” and conceded that its “processes and procedures” have not always been in keeping with its “rapid growth”.

With 50 million people globally signing up for their daily deals email newsletter, specific to their area, there is certainly a lot of scope for complaint but to avoid any issues, customers need to go into using Groupon with their eyes open.

Online Brand Coordinator at Add People, Carly Meacher, offers the following advice.

“The term ‘too good to be true’ has been frequently passed around when describing Groupon, and customers need to ensure that they buy with caution. If you’re considering buying a Groupon deal, you need to be as flexible as possible on your dates and take the time to read the terms and conditions. Also be prepared to be put on hold when booking your deal, as there are usually several hundred customers trying to do exactly the same.”

The 10 millionth .uk web address has been registered this week, a major milestone for the domain name and its owners, registration firm Nominet.

The address has been registered by the founder of Hampshire-based firm SN Technologies, Steven Northam, for a new photography publication, Swarve Magazine. Swarvemagazine.co.uk becoming the 10 millionth registration shows both the importance of the .uk domain name, as well as its impressive growth over the past 15 years. Nominet first took on .uk back in 1996, when there were just 26,000 .uk sites, and chief executive of the registration firm Lesley Cowley said that over the past few years, the company has enjoyed growth of around ten per cent. Commenting on the registration she said: “It shows the very healthy growth of the UK internet – lots of new businesses getting online and buying what is often their first domain name.”

Having a .uk domain is ideal for many firms as it allows them to specifically target UK-based customers. As well as this, .uk is widely used by reputable and reliable companies, newspapers and other online firms, so it brings with it a feeling of trust.

Cowley echoed these thoughts and commented that “.uk is a prestigious address that people admire, respect and trust all over the world, and individuals and organisations of all shapes and sizes have recognised this”.

.uk is a “fantastic place to be” online, she added. Research published by Nominet in 2009 showed that 77 per cent of British consumers prefer to use a .uk domain than a .com when browsing the web, showing just how much the domain is trusted among those who use the net to buy and consume products. Website team manager at Add People Ash Singh said that the 10 millionth site registration is “excellent news” for any firm with an online presence. “This milestone will boost confidence in the .uk domain and increase trust in internet businesses. Having a .uk domain is useful for firms in terms of SEO and this 10 millionth registration highlights that the popularity of the domain is going to remain at a peak for a long time”.

Infaweb focus and specialise in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), delivering their services from Edinburgh (SEO Edinburgh) and the Scottish Borders. They have recently gone through some major restructuring in the company and in doing so have manage to gain multiple new contracts including: software testing for NHS Borders, SEO for Evoke IT and SEO for Edinburgh HomeForce.

Infaweb also offer other web services to tie all the clients’ web projects and objectives together giving them maximum effect. These services include: SharePoint development, website design, web development, mobile development and Marketing Scottish Borders.

Managing director Jon Harrison says “I am incredibly pleased with the progress made at Infaweb over recent months and it is down the support network that has been built around the company.” Infaweb are currently part of the Borders Business Group and are looking to expand their networking through Edinburgh and Scotland over coming months.

Infaweb have a great ethos and ensure all their clients have a service to match their company. If the client wants to know every detail about SEO and how to implement it onto their site the SEO consultant tells them with no secrets and no hidden costs. The thought process is that everyone and every company work differently and because a website is integral to most businesses these days it is vital it works with the organisation not alongside it. At Infaweb the clients come first and it does not matter where in Scotland or the UK they are based. Infaweb are very good at getting a solid understanding of what the client wants from the campaign and putting that into a workable plan and strategy. This process involves the client at every step of the way which makes the campaign a success.

Nu Blue are very excited to announce that they have updated the NuBlue webmail. This is a major update and brings a raft of feature enhancements and new features long enough to cause a scroll bar!

The new webmail platform uses the Atmail 6 webmail system. Atmail is a privately held company with offices in the USA and Australia. The company has enjoyed years of positive growth and profitability each year since inception and continues to innovate their webmail product, ensuring it remains a best in class application.

The new features include a new and improved HTML editor allowing users to spice up their emails and add personal style with the easy to use HTML email composer. Improved contact pane with profile pictures in contact list, popular contact support and automatic creation of contacts for people you email.

One of the key new benefits is for iOS users (iPhone, iPad, iPod) who can now use “1-click” provisioning to automatically setup their device for email and contacts. No hostname, protocols and ports required, the administrator can configure global settings and make these available to local user accounts. iOS users just need to navigate to the URL of Atmail and follow the iOS provisioning wizard, simplifying deployments within an organisation or ISP.

NuBlue provide the Atmail webmail client to all web hosting customers as a free value added application allowing our customers to check their email wherever they may be in the world, using only there web browser. NuBlue are committed to providing the best possible hosting platform as well as expert Drupal web hosting; and ensuring that NuBlue customers have the tools they need to get the most from there webhosting and email setup.

Virtual Internet, a leading provider of high availability hosting solutions for mission critical websites and applications, has been selected to deliver Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) technologies to UK public sector organisations as part of G-Cloud.

The G-Cloud framework enables government organisations to purchase cloud services from suppliers that have already undergone the UK Government’s demanding approval process to join the G-cloud supplier list.

“This marks a new era in IT for government,” says Patrick McCarthy, Managing Director, Virtual Internet, “allowing the public sector to take better advantage of the cost savings, efficiency, and agility of cloud computing. The UK Government’s G-Cloud initiative is a testament to the importance of cloud-based technologies and the departure from the old on-premise hardware model.”

As an approved supplier, Virtual Internet’s high-availability Cloud Services are now offered to public sector organisations for purchase online through the Government’s CloudStore. These services include Virtual Internet Public Cloud Hosting, Private Cloud Hosting, Hybrid Cloud Hosting, and Content Delivery Network.

Virtual Internet partners with leading suppliers including VMware and Level 3 Inc., and operates top tier UK datacentres that deliver maximum resiliency and security. Virtual Internet is ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 certified for security management and quality management.

The UK Government’s Science and Technology Committee has published a report on malware and cyber-crime with important recommendations that, if implemented, will have a major impact on the UK’s cyber-security at the everyday consumer level.

The Government’s strategic-level “Cyber Security Strategy”, published in late 2011, concentrated on issues of national and global importance. In contrast, a new report, from the Government’s Science and Technology Committee, focuses on a lower level: namely the non-specialist computer user, which is of more immediate relevance to the average citizen. The report outlines the growing and very real threat of malicious software (malware) and cyber-crime, and the implications for law enforcement. The report concludes with urgent recommendations for the Government to set up a trusted provider of information to the general public, and also for cyber-security standards that will redress the current situation of confusion and excessive technical detail.

Briony Williams (Security Consultant, commissum) comments: “It is interesting that this report does not primarily call for more anti-virus software, or more firewalls. What the report does call for is human solutions rather than technical ones. The anti-malware industry has grown significantly in recent years, and technical solutions are produced in response to each newly-discovered threat. Unfortunately, this contributes to the present situation, where people can feel bewildered by the sheer range and complexity of the things they need to know in order to be safe online. It doesn’t help that the anti-malware solutions are often described in highly technical language. This confusion is doubtless contributing to the situation where consumers are not implementing even basic anti-malware measures.”

The report recommends a major upgrading of the Government’s “Get Safe Online” website, as well as a widespread publicity campaign, and a national initiative to improve training and education in online security. As Briony of commissum points out: “This report is to be welcomed for its emphasis on the need to support the human users, and not only the software, since technical solutions alone are not enough. If the report’s recommendations are implemented, they could bring about a long-lasting and very significant improvement in the UK’s consumer-level cyber-security.”